d20: Ryan’s Top 18 Games for New Gamers

Drew texted me the other day to remind me to roll the die this week. I had been thinking about it, but I kept forgetting. So, now that we are starting to feel a little rushed, of course I roll a nice manageable 18. Crud. Ok, at least we knew the topic this week already, so at the very least, we had a few ideas already in place.

Unfortunately, Drew got sick shortly after I rolled the die, and he wasn’t feeling up to writing yet. He’ll post it sometime in the upcoming days. Just get well!

Games for new players are a fairly easy topic, although it’s tricky for people who game regularly. It’s very easy to think a game is simple, but will still cause a glazed over look in the eyes of new players. I tend to go for rules light, often silly games, although I’m not against throwing a next level game out there, for when you feel you are ready. I don’t think I did that though, I cut most of those off of my official list.

Here are my Top 18 Games for New Players (In no particular order.):

Patchwork

Ticket to Ride: This is a great game in general, with very simple rules. Yes, you can play it hardcore with a ton of intentional blocking, but that’s a bit cruel to do to new players. This game can be bought at stores like Walmart & Target along with game stores. It’s probably one of the top 5 games in all time sales, and might even be just behind Catan.

Pitchcar: This one can be tough to find, and is a bit pricey, but I can’t think of a game that is more fun, and can play a large group of people. You just flick discs around a slot-car style track, the first person to cross the finish line after a set number of laps wins. There are some rules about going off the track or knocking others off, but not many rules to get in the way. And if the full version is too much, there is a Mini version too.

Blokus: This was one of the games that brought me to the wonderful world of Boardgamegeek.com. It’s very pretty to look at, has familiar Tetris-like pieces, and is quick to play. You just try to place as many of your pieces out on a shrinking board, while only touching at the corners. You are able to block, but it’s not easy to completely block someone, and it often comes back to haunt you later when they manage to take that area you were planning on using.

Forbidden Island: This is a co-op game that is very simple to play, but hard to win. It’s from the creator of the immensely popular Pandemic, and is a simpler use of similar mechanics. I’ve always enjoyed it.

Take it Easy: This is a multi-player solitaire puzzle game with a little bingo blind drawing to it. Ok, it’s a lot more fun than it sounds. You add tiles to a board, but the trick is you only score rows you get to go the full lengths, and you can’t move them once they are down. Plays quick, and it really only takes a game to understand what’s going on.

Kingdom Builder: A pretty rules light game, not a ton of decisions, but clever plays can be made. It’s simple, but has some good mechanics to help a new gamer advance up in game difficulty.

Hanabi: A small card game where you hold your hand of cards facing out, and need to rely on your fellow players to help inform you what’s there. Co-op and silly at times, it’s a neat little games that I don’t play often enough.

Patchwork: It’s only a 2 player game, but it’s a great 2 player game. You are placing Tetris-style pieces on a board to create a quilt. The player order mechanic is cool, and the value of pieces makes it have some interesting choices.

Harry Potter: Hogwart’s Battle: A very basic deck builder, at first. It’s a great intro to deck building games, and the theme will appeal to many people. It also ramps up by adding more rules and cards as you defeat each book.

Potion Explosion: This game has really familiar mechanics to most people, it kind of copies the board of app games like Candy Crush. It’s a fun game, and looks really neat out on the table.

Mint Works: The most basic worker placement game out there, but it’s really clever. Might be over faster than I’d like, but it’s fun, cheap, and fits in a mint tin. A great intro to worker placement mechanics.

Codenames Duet: This is a fantastic co-op game, although any of the Codenames family of games would work. I prefer Duet because it can be played with 2 players, but the family can all be played as party games, and the only limit on players is room to see the board. A pretty thinky game, but easy to explain and get into.

Carcassonne: A great tile laying game. Another really popular game that has stood the test of time, it’s the first game I know of that used Meeples. At the very least it was probably the one that popularized them. If you are having trouble wrapping your head around the Farmers, feel free to skip them when starting out.

Hey! That’s My Fish!: Another game that seems simple, but it can get nasty in a fun way. Move your penguin, take a tile with fish on it, and the person with the most fish wins. Where it gets a little nasty is when you trap an opponent on an island on the ever shrinking board, or you manage to block off a huge chunk for yourself.

Tsuro: Add a tile, move your stone, try not to get moved off the board. It’s extremely simple, really easy to teach, and you can play several games in an hour. The stones look great, along with the tiles. It also plays up to 8!

Can’t Stop: A classic press your luck game. Just roll the dice and move up the ladder, but if you can’t move, you lose the progress you made. It also helps teach how die rolls average out, with the 7 needing a lot of rolls to complete, while the 12 only needs a couple of hits. Mathy fun.

Fits: Ok, so I have a thing for Tetris-like pieces. This one literally plays like Tetris, sliding pieces down the board. I really should bring this one out more often.

Kingdomino: Very familiar elements of Dominoes. Tiles with each half having a terrain on it. Match terrain types, get the biggest areas you can, while also requiring crowns to be in the area, making you multiply the score of total spaces times the number of crowns. Simple to play, but it takes a little luck and planning to be good at it.

Kingdomino

Ok, so that’s my list. I have a couple of guesses at potential repeats from Drew, but I don’t expect many. I am looking forward to seeing his list. Believe it or not, I had to cut down the list quite a bit. My initial list was over 40 games!

There are a lot of other games out there that would be great for new gamers. What are some of your favorites? Any objections to something on my list? Or was my list pretty good? Feel free to give any opinions in the comments below.

Good list! I have 7 of these in my collection and I often use the same ones to introduce friends to gaming.
Although I have PitchCar, I prefer ICECOOL as our introductory dexterity party game. The whimsical, colorful penguins draw in the kids and the adults cannot resist flicking them about the school. The fact I can point interested families straight to the shelves of Target is another plus.